Compositions for eliminating deposits from the combustion chambers of internal combustion engines

ABSTRACT

LIQUID COMPOSITION CONSISTING OF A MIXTURE OF A BICYCLIC MONOTERPENE, E.G. FENCHONE AND THUJONE OF A LUBRICATING OIL AND OF A SOLVENT FOR LACQUERS, VARNISHES AND SLUDGES, THE COMPOSITION, AFTER HAVING BEEN INJECTED INTO THE COMBUSTION CHAMBER OF AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE AND ALLOWED TO REMAIN FOR ABOUT 30 MINUTES WHEN THE ENGINE IS HOT, CAUSES, AT THE RESTARTING OF THE ENGINE, THE DISSOLUTION OF ALL THE CARBON AND METAL DEPOSITS WHICH WERE PRESENT IN THE COMBUSTION CHAMBER.

United States Patent 3,658,708 COMPOSITIONS FOR ELIMINATING DEPOSITS FROM THE COMBUSTION CHAMBERS OF IN- TERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Luigi Ratto, Milan, Italy, assignor to Ratlec S.p.A., Milan, Italy No Drawing. Filed Aug. 1, 1969, Ser. No. 846,960 Claims priority, application Italy, Aug. 26, 1968, 20,522/68; June 11, 1969, 18,047/69 Int. Cl. Cm 1/20 US. Cl. 252-56 R 10 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Liquid composition consisting of a mixture of a bicyclic monoterpene, e.g, fenchone and thujone of a lubricating oil and of a solvent for lacquers, varnishes and sludges. The composition, after having been injected into the combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine and allowed to remain for about 30 minutes when the engine is hot, causes, at the restarting of the engine, the dissolution of all the carbon and metal deposits which were present in the combustion chamber.

The present invention relates to a liquid composition for eliminating the deposits from the combustion chambers of internal combustion engines.

It is known that internal combustion (two stroke or four stroke) engines, both of Otto cycle and of diesel type, after several hundreds hours of running, present a decrease of compression in the combustion chambers, an increase of the specific fuel consumption and of the lubricating oil per unit of time, require the use of fuel having a higher octane number as compared to the same factors referring to new engines.

It is also known that this decrease in performance of internal combustion engines is due to the formation and accumulation of deposits of various chemical nature in the combustion chambers of the engines, among the piston rings and between the valve heads and their corresponding boxes.

In the early 1930s it was proposed to use liquid compositions, which, once injected into the combustion chambers of the internal combustion engines, would obviate the above-mentioned drawbacks. For instance, German Pat. 420,604 suggested the use of a mixture of an amine with a varnish solvent; German Pat. 525,601 taught the use of halogenated aromatic hydrocarbon added, possibly, to a solvent; German Pat. 575,147 suggested the use of a mixture of toluene, xylene or ethylbenzene and of a compound of the furan group and U.S. Pat. 2,004,628 suggested the use of a mixture of kerosene, creosote, castor oil and amyl acetate. After an initial period of very limited use, the liquid compositions have no longer been used both because their effectiveness was rather doubtful, i.e. the obtained results were only partly satisfactory, and because the engines and the fuels used nowadays have undergone overall transformations. As a matter of fact, the number of revolutions per minute and the compression ratio of the engines has been strikingly increased in the last decades and use has been made of gasoline additives of various kinds, among which lead additives are of great importance. The consequence of these transformations has been the composition of the deposits aris ing in the modern internal combustion engines is considerably different from that of the deposits which could arise in the engines in 1930; it is known, for instance, that in the deposits of the present engines a noticeable amount of lead salts are present.

Patented Apr. 25, 1972 The known liquid compositions used to remove deposits from internal combustion engines have no practical effectiveness in the modern internal combustion engines abovementioned; this fact has been fully proved by a series of tests. At present, the only efficient way, to obviate the above-mentioned drawbacks is the one of effecting the overhaul of internal combustion engines, which requires the stripping of the engine, replacement of the piston rings, grinding of the valves, the integral cleaning of the combustion chamber and finally the reassembly of the engine; to carry out all the operations, considerable expense and time is involved.

As a matter of fact, the main object of the present invention is to provide a liquid composition which, after having been injected into the combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine, causes the elimination of any type of deposits, both carbon and metal deposits, causes an increase of compression in the combustion chamber and a decrease of specific consumption of fuel and of lubricating oil.

These and other objects are attained by the use of a liquid composition formed by a mixture of at least two components, one of which is chosen from the group of monoterpenes and the other is chosen from the group of solvents for lacquers, varnishes and sludges. A lubricating oil is preferably added to the said two components. By way of example, the invention will be explained more particularly. The monoterpene preferably used in the liquid composition of the present invention is a bicyclic monoterpene, namely fenchone, the thujone, carone, pino camphone, verbenone and umbellulone. The solvent is preferably chosen from the group comprising oil of turpentine, essential oils having a solvent action, amyl acetate, Tetralin, acetone, propyl acetate, ethyl acetate, butyl acetate, hexyl acetate, benzyl acetate. Decalin, monohalogen-derivatives of naphthalene, toluene, benzene, ethylbenzene, halogen, derivatives of benzene, chlorotoluenes, xylenes and trimethylbenzenes, and 2-ethylnaphthalene. The lubricating oil preferably used is chosen from the group comprising castor oil, colza oil, olein, coconut oil,

ice

and palm oil.

In the liquid composition claimed by the present patent application a single monoterpene or a mixture of monoterpenes, a single lubricating oil or a mixture of lubricating oils and a single solvent or a mixture of solvents may be used. -It has been found that in the liquid composition the percentages of the components are preferably within the ranges of about 20% to about 30% for the monoterpene, of about 50% to about 73% for the solvent and of about 7% to about 20% for the lubricating oil, said percentages being in volume.

Some specific examples of liquid compositions will be given in the following.

EXAMPLE 1 r 22 cc. of fenchone, 70 cc. of oil of turpentine and 8 cc. of castor oil are mixed together, the mixture being carried out at room temperature and pressure in a mixer. A homogeneous liquid is obtained; its use will be specified later on.

EXAMPLE 2 29 cc. of fenchone, 40 cc. of oil of turpentine, 20 cc. of Tetralin, 5 cc. of amyl acetate and 6 cc. of colza oil are mixed according to the procedure of Example 1, to obtain a homogeneous liquid.

EXAMPLE 3 25 cc. of thujone, 25 cc. of toluene, 15 cc. of oil of turpentine, 12.5 0.0 of castor oil, 11 cc. of Tetralin, 11.5 cc. of amyl acetate are mixed according to the procedure of Example 1, to obtain a homogeneous liquid.

3 EXAMPLE 4 30 cc. of carone, 15 cc. of acetone, 5 cc. of xylene, cc. of hexyl-acetate, 20 cc. of Decalin, 10 cc. of olein and 10 cc. of coconut oil are mixed, according to the procedure of Example 1, to obtain a homogeneous liquid.

EXAMPLE 5 25 cc. of camphor dissolved in benzene, 25 cc. of toluene, cc. of oil of turpentine, 12.5 cc. of castor oil, 11 cc. of Tetralin and 11.5 cc. of amyl acetate are mixed, according to the procedure of Example 1, to obtain a homogeneous liquid.

EXAMPLE 7 12 cc. of fenchone, 12 cc. of thujone, 30 cc. of toluene, 15 cc. of oil of turpentine, 10 cc. of castor oil, 15 cc. of Tetralin, 6 cc. of amy-l acetate are mixed together, according to the procedure of Example 1, to obtain a homogeneous liquid.

EXAMPLE 8 cc. of fenchone, 30 cc. of chlorobenzene, 20 cc. of oil Thuja, 15 cc. of colza oil, 10 cc. of Z-ethyl-naphthalene, 5 cc. of butyl acetate are mixed together, according to the procedure of Example 1, to obtain a homogeneous liquid.

EXAMPLE 9 cc. of pinocamphone, 70 cc. of thyme oil, 5 cc. of colza oil are mixed together, according to the procedure of Example 1, to obtain a homogeneous liquid.

EXAMPLE 10 15 cc. of carone, 15 cc. of fenchone, cc. of xylene, 15 cc. of hexyl-a-cetate, 20 cc. of rue oil, 5 cc. of castor oil are mixed together, acording to the procedure of Example 1, to obtain a homogeneous liquid.

EXAMPLE 11 29 cc. of verbenone, 40 cc. of oil of turpentine, 20 cc. of Tetralin, 5 cc. of propyl-acetate and 6 cc. of castor oil are mixed together, according to the procedure of Example 1, to obtain a homogeneous liquid.

EXAMPLE 12 25 cc. of umbellulone, 25 cc. of chlorobenzene, 15 cc. of oil turpentine, 12.5 cc. of colza oil, 11 cc. of Decalin, 11.5 cc. of amyl acetate are mixed together, according to the procedure of Example 1, to obtain a homogeneous liquid.

EXAMPLE 13 22 cc. of thujone, 60 cc. of oil of turpentine and 18 cc. of castor oil are mixed together according to the procedure of Example 1, to obtain a homogeneous liquid.

EXAMPLE 14 30 cc. of toluene, 20 cc. of oil of turpentine, 15 cc. of castor oil, 10 cc. of Tetralin, 20 cc. of fenchone and 5 cc. of amyl acetate are mixed together, according to the procedure of Example 1, to obtain a homogeneous liquid.

EXAMPLE 15 cc. of toluene, 25 cc. of oil of turpentine, 10 cc. of castor oil, 15 cc. of Tetralin, 10 cc. of thujone and 5 cc. of amyl acetate are mixed together, according to the procedure of Example 1, to obtain a homogeneous liquid.

4 EXAMPLE 16 22 c. of fenchone and 78 cc. of oil of turpentine are mixed together, according to the procedure of Example 1, to obtain a homogeneous liquid.

EXAMPLE 17 30 cc. of thujone, 40 cc. of oil of turpentine and 30 cc. of- Tetralin are mixed together, according to the procedure of Example 1, to obtain a homogeneous liquid.

EXAMPLE 18 25 cc. of toluene, 15 cc. of oil of turpentine, 12.5 cc. of castor oil, 11 cc. of Tetralin, 25 cc. of fenchone and 11.5 cc. of amyl acetate are mixed together, according to the procedure of Example 1, to obtain a homogeneous liquid.

The injection of the liquid composition must be effected for each cylinder separately, one after the other. The engine is first warmed up until the cooling fluid temperature of the engine reaches at least 75 C. (167 F.), preferably at least C. (195 'F.), in the case of water cooled engines. For air-cooled engines the use of the liquid composition must be made when the crankcase oil temperature has reach about 80 C. F.).

After removing the spark plug of the cylinder to be treated with'the liquid composition, the piston is brought to the top dead centre (T.D.C.) and, more exactly, in a four stroke engine the T.D.C. position between the compression stroke and the power stroke, so that the valves are hermetically closed. The liquid composition is introduced into the cylinder through the spark plug opening by using, for example, a simple syringe, the spark plug aperture being closed immediately afterwards. The composition is then allowed to remain in the combustion chamber for 20 minutes, preferably at least 30 minutes.

This treatment must be effected as quickly as possible before the engine cools down to any substantial extent, since such cooling during the period of treatment would reduce the effectiveness of the action exerted by the liquid compound. While it remains in the combustion chamber, the compositions exerts a strong solvent action on the deposits of the combustion chamber, on the varnishes, lacquers and on the sludges located between the piston rings and the correspondinggrooves, completely dissolving these materials and so preventing their further deleteriously effecting the performance of the engine. After a staying time of 30 minutes in the combustion chamber, the engine is started again and let run until it is warmed up. As a result a gas of intense colouring together with all the products resulting from the chemical attack of the deposits originally existing in the combustion chamber (between the valves and their corresponding boxes and between the piston rings and their grooves) is ejected from the combustion chamber through the exhaust valve. This operating cycle is repeated for the other cylinders, bearing in mind that it is impossible to treat all the cylinders simultaneously, only one cylinder at a time.

In the case of Otto cycle engines the treatment is carried out in the above described way by removing the spark plugs from the cylinder under treatment, by adjusting the pistons to the top dead centre (T.D.C.) and by filling the combustion chamber of the cylinder with the composition of the invention.

In direct injection Diesel engines the treatment is similar to that performed on Otto engines, except that the composition is injected into the combustion chamber by removing the fuel injector. In the case of Diesel engines which have a precombustion chamber, however, the injector or the glow plug, is usually in the precombustion chamber; in this case the position of top dead centre in each cylinder must be deduced from the advance of injection. The external conditions under which engines are treated with the composition according to the invention must be those of ambient temperature, not lower than 18 C. (64.4 F.). The efiect of the treatment is immediate but it is most noticeable when the engine has run for several hours, thus achieving the highest possible values.

From the numerous experiments carried out in the more severe conditions it has been found, that in the engines, after having been subjected to the treatments according to the invention, exhibited an increase of horsepower up to 10.5%, a surprising increase of compression, which is often 25% higher than before the treatment, a requirement of fuel having a lower octane number, and consequently a noticeable reduction of the consumption of fuel and lubricating oil. Finally it is important to notice that the liquid composition has proved to have no harmful or corrosive efiect on the engines treated with the liquid composition.

What I claim is :4

1. A composition for removing deposits from the combustion chambers of internal combustion engines comprising a mixture of a solvent and a bicyclic monoterpene selected from the group consisting of fenchone, thujone, carone, pinocamphone, verbenone and umbellulone.

2. A composition according to claim 1 wherein said solvent is selected from the group consisting of oil of turpentine, essential oils having a solvent action, amyl acetate, butyl acetate, ethyl acetate, hexyl acetate, propyl acetate, benzyl acetate, tetraline, Decalin, 2-ethyl-naphthalene, acetone, toluene, benzene, xylene, trimethylbenzene, monohalogen-derivatives of naphthalene, ethylbenzene, halogen derivatives of benzene, and chlorine derivatives of toluene.

3. A composition according to claim 2 wherein the bicyclic monoterpene is fenchone.

4. A composition according to claim 2 wherein the bicyclic monoterpene is thujone.

5. A composition according to claim 1 further comprising a lubricating oil.

6. A composition according to claim 5 wherein said lubricating oil is selected from the group consisting of castor oil, colza oil, olein, coconut oil and palm oil.

7. A composition according to claim 6 which comprises from 20 to 30% monoterpene, from to 73% solvent, and from 7 to 20% lubricating oil, said percentages being by volume.

8. A composition according to claim 7 comprising 25% toluene, 15% oil of turpentine, 12.5% castor oil, .'11% tetralin, 25% bicyclic monoterpene, 11.5% amyl acetate, said percentages being by volume.

9. A composition according to claim 7 wherein the monoterpene is fenchone.

10. A composition according to claim 7 wherein the monoterpene is thujone.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,825,256 9/1931 Wolfard et al. 4458 FOREIGN PATENTS 404,046 1/ 1934 Great Britain 4477 488,228 12/ 1953 Italy 44-80 DANIEL E. WYMAN, Primary Examiner W. I SHINE, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

